Less than two weeks after he started, while he was still furnishing his office and learning people’s names, officers from his department arrested 11 Black school children for not stepping in to stop a fight.
Podcast Bonus: Treated ‘like I’m a dog,’ says one man jailed as a child by Rutherford County
Quinterrius Frazier was 15 years old when he was arrested for aggravated robbery and held in the Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center. When staff said he was being disruptive — flashing gang signs and rapping, they claimed — he was placed in solitary confinement.
The Kids of Rutherford County: A reporter’s essay
The three years I spent working on “The Kids of Rutherford County” podcast taught me one thing: Tennessee’s punitive policies aren’t leaving children in the legal system better off.
Hear the trailer: ‘The Kids of Rutherford County,’ a new podcast series from Serial, ProPublica and WPLN News
In partnership with Serial Productions and The New York Times, “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a four-part narrative series reported and hosted by WPLN’s Meribah Knight.
‘Nibble at the edges’: One Republican lawmaker contemplates his role as special session kicks off
When Republican state Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, first read Gov. Bill Lee’s extreme risk protection order he thought: This seems reasonable.
Rutherford County is back in court over juvenile arrests, now fighting insurer to cover its payouts
Rutherford County is suing its insurance provider for refusing to cover its settlement in a large class action lawsuit over its unlawful policies for arresting and detaining children.
Rutherford County detention center that illegally jailed kids will now answer to an oversight board
A juvenile detention center in Rutherford County, Tennessee, that for years illegally jailed children will now be overseen by a five-member board rather than the county’s juvenile court judge, a change designed to bring greater accountability to a long-troubled system.
Rutherford County juvenile judge is leaving. Will that change the system that illegally arrested and detained children?
WPLN’s Meribah Knight sat down with WPLN host Nina Cardona to explain what Judge Donna Scott Davenport’s departure means — and what it doesn’t — for the children of Rutherford County.
Judge Donna Scott Davenport announces retirement from Rutherford County’s juvenile court
Rutherford County’s embattled juvenile court judge will not seek reelection, a county spokesperson announced Tuesday.
New documents prove Rutherford County disproportionately jails black children, and it’s getting worse
Rutherford County has been jailing Black children at a disproportionately high rate, according to newly obtained data. And, in a departure from national trends, the county’s racial disparity is getting worse, not better.